Pro Audio Reference (M)

M

MAC
Address (Medium Access Control Address) (Also called MAC
Name)Computer Networks. The (usually) 48-bit hardware
address number unique to each LANNIC (put there by the manufacturer), which identifies every network node.

macintosh (also mackintosh) Chiefly British A raincoat
or a lightweight, waterproof fabric that was originally of rubberized cotton.
[After Charles Macintosh (1766-1843), Scottish inventor] [AHD]

magnet Physics. A body that produces a magnetic field
external to itself. [IEEE]

magnetic field Physics. The electric field surrounding
any current-carrying conductor. [IEEE]
A condition found in the region around a magnet or an electric current,
characterized by the existence of a detectable magnetic force at every
point in the region and by the existence of magnetic poles. [AHD]

magnetic flux density Symbol B or B-field.
The amount of magnetic flux through a unit area taken perpendicular to
the direction of the magnetic flux. Also called magnetic induction.
[AHD]

magnetite
The mineral form of black iron oxide, Fe3O4, that often occurs with magnesium, zinc, and manganese and is an important ore of iron. [AHD]

magnetostriction (magneto + (con)striction) Magnetism. Deformation of a ferromagnetic material subjected to a magnetic field.
[AHD] Discovered by James Joule in 1842. The reciprocal effect, the change of the susceptibility of a material when subjected to a mechanical stress, is called the Villari effect, named after E. Villari, a 19th-century Italian physicist.

magnitude Mathematics. 1. A number assigned to a quantity
so that it may be compared with other quantities. 2. A property that can
be quantitatively described, such as the volume of a sphere, the length
of a vector, or the value of a voltage or current waveform. [AHD]

Maine The only American state whose name is just one syllable.

mainframe Computers. 1. A large powerful computer, often serving many connected terminals and usually used by large complex organizations. 2. The central processing unit of a computer exclusive of peripheral and remote devices. [AHD]

mains Electricity. Name for the AC line voltage input. Short for mains power system.

Make Music Day From website: "Make Music takes place each year on the summer solstice. Founded in France 32 years ago as the Fête de la Musique, it is now the world's largest annual music event, celebrated in 800 cities across 110 countries."

MAMA (Musical Archives, Musical Archives) Founded in 1989 (1986?) by Gene Czerwinski
(Cerwin-Vega founder) to preserve the music
of culturally significant artists (by not requiring them to be commercially
successful), whose CDs consistently are Grammy nominees, with at least
one Grammy winner. [Now appears to be defunct.]

Manchester encoding A method of encoding data in which separate data and clock signals can be combined into a single, self-synchronizable data stream, suitable for transmission on a serial channel. [IEEE]. Also see: differential Manchester encoding.

mandolinMusical Instrument. A small lute-like instrument with a typically pear-shaped body and a straight fretted neck, having usually four sets of paired strings tuned in unison or octaves.
[AHD]

mandolin rail A device installed within a piano used to create
the classic ragtime honky-tonk sound popularized in player pianos and nickelodeons.
"The rail consists of a rod of wood spanning the strings of an upright
piano. Fringed leather hangs from the rod. Each fringe is approximately
two inches long and half an inch wide. Although steel buttons were often
used, brass buttons affixed to the string side of the leather worked best.
The rail was usually hinged to pivot upward when not in use or to pivot
down when in use. The felt from the piano hammer will hit the leather fringe,
knocking the brass button against the piano string. The result is a metallic,
honky-tonk piano sound." — Howard Byrne, Assistant Curator, The
Music House Museum, Acme, MI.

mantissa The fractional part of a logarithm,
e.g., in the logarithm 1.83885, the mantissa is 0.83885. (The integer part
of a number is called the characteristic. In the example the characteristic
is 1.) Floating-point arithmetic
also calls this the significand.

Mapp's Law Acoustics. "Point the loudspeaker at the listener," created by Peter Mapp, principal of Peter Mapp Associates. He is an engineer and physicist specializing in acoustics and technical writing.

maracaMusical Instrument. A Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of a hollow-gourd rattle containing pebbles or beans and often played in pairs. [AHD]

Marconi, Guglielmo (1874-1937) Italian engineer and inventor
who in 1901 transmitted long-wave radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean
and opened the door to a rapidly developing wireless industry. In 1909
he won the Nobel Prize in physics, shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun whose
modifications to Marconi's transmitters significantly increased their range
and usefulness. [AHD]

Martin, Hardy (1936-2016) American musician and entrepreneur who cofounder IED (Innovative Electronic Designs; now Atlas IED) and consider one of the digital audio pioneers.

marvelous marble machine Ingenious hand-cranked wooden machine uses 2,000 ball bearings to make music. Go here for comments by Martin Molin—of the band Wintergatan—the Swedish inventor and composer. And here for development videos of this stunning machine.

mask or masking (akaauditory masking) Psychology of
Hearing. The human hearing phenomenon where the response to one stimulus
is reduced in the presence of another, i.e., two sounds arrive but only
one sound is heard. Particularly evident when one sound is louder than
another, with the result being that we hear the louder sound, even if arriving
at a slightly different time. Frequency plays a part: a louder sound heard
at one frequency prevents softer sounds near that frequency from being
heard. However, not all frequencies mask the same. Mid-band frequencies
mask far better than low frequencies, for example. Related to critical
bands. Also see: temporal masking (e.g., forward and backward masking) and sound masking.

Massa,
Frank (1906-1990) American engineer who is considered the father
of modern electroacoustics for developing the fundamental technology that
became the foundation for electroacoustics. He is the recognized pioneer
in the design of transducers and systems for both air and underwater applications,
as well as the founder of Massa Products
Corporation. Frank Massa and Harry Olson authored the first textbook on electroacoustics, Applied Acoustics,
in 1934. See Fundamentals
of Electroacoustics for further details.

mastering Audio recording. The
final step in the recording process, completed before the replication or streaming process. The act of creating the master from which all copies will
be made. The following lists many of the required artistic and technical
steps, although some of these are more accurately referred to as pre-mastering steps leading to a preliminary master used to create the final production
master.

Transfer the recording into the highest digital (or analog) format for
the mastering steps.

Fix unwanted noise problems, either captured during the recording process,
or for restoration archival purposes.

Format and transfer the final results to the required media for duplication.

And sometimes, create the package artwork.

Or, as DRT Mastering succinctly
puts it: "Mastering creates a seamless whole out of a collection of individual
tracks."

master micTeleconferencing. Term
referring to the microphone input on an automatic
mic mixer that is the last to detect audio. A last-on mic becomes a master mic only if left open long enough.

master portTeleconferencing.
Term referring to the audio input port that is the last to detect audio.

mathematics The study of the measurement, properties, and relationships of quantities and sets, using numbers and symbols. [AHD]

mathmusician The merger of mathematics and music. See examples from Vi Hart [Absolutely one of the most brilliant contributions to the Internet by a true genius. Check it out; you won't be disappointed.] and another—quite different--from Dr. Larry Lesser,

matrix-encodingAudio. A technique of storing more than
two audio channels on a two-channel medium or transmission format. Dolby
Surround is an example, where the center and surround channels are electronically
encoded into the left and right channels of a stereo signal (usually by
broadband 90° phase shifting and summing). On playback, the center
and surround channel are decoded from the left and right signals. The problem
inherent with matrix-encoding is the mathematical dilemma of trying to
solve for four unknowns (left, right, center & surround) when
you only have two equations (the stereo signal); you can get close
but you cannot get the exact right answer (so you always have crosstalk).
This contrasts with today's discrete digital channels.

matrix-mixer Similar to the matrix
switcher (or router) below, but with additional
signal processing features on all the inputs and outputs. With a matrix-mixer,
not only can you assign any input to any output but you may add EQ, compression,
change level, etc. Very elaborate models exist with as many as 32-channels
in and 8 or more output channels (and as big as a Volkswagen). Also see mix-minus.

maverick Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting
such independence. Believed after Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870),
American cattleman who left the calves in his herd unbranded. [AHD]

Maxfield, J. P. American engineer who developed and was granted U.S. Patent #2,019, 616 for the first three-channel stereophonic system in 1935. He was a pioneer of motion picture sound while working for Western Electric. He also is credited with creating the 33 1/3 RPM record speed for synchronizing sound and motion pictures.

MDM (modular digital multitrack) Generic term used to
describe any of the families of digital audio multitrack recorders. The
most common examples being the Alesis ADAT series and the Tascam DA-88 series.

mebiSymbolMi New term standardized
by the IEC as Amendment 2 to IEC 60027-2 Letter
Symbols to be Used in Electrical Technology to signify binary multiples
of 1,048,576 (i.e., 220). Meant to distinguish between exact binary and
decimal quantities, i.e., 1,048,576 verses 1,000,000. For example, it is
now 16 mebibits, abbreviated 16 Mib, not 16 megabits or 16 Mb.

media converter or media manager The ability to
manage and the process of managing different media (coaxial
cable, twisted-pair cable, and fiber-optics
cable) used within the same network. Media management involves cable
performance monitoring, cable break detection, planning for cable routes,
as while as converting data signals between the various media.

medium 1. In telecommunications, the transmission
path along which a signal propagates,
such as a twisted-pair, coaxial
cable, waveguide, fiber optics,
or through water, or air. 2. The material on which data are recorded, such
as plain paper, paper tapes, punched cards, magnetic tapes, magnetic disks,
or optical discs.

MEDUSA(Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) A microwave ray gun that beams sounds directly into people's brains, developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation. Short microwave bursts rapidly heat tissue, which causes a shockwave inside the skull that is detectable by the ears. Also see: Mosquito™. [Ah yes, science at its best.]

melismaMusic. A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text, as in Gregorian chant.
[AHD]

Mellotron Musical
Instrument. The first sampling keyboard, made famous by The Beatles,
who used it prominently on their 1967 hit Strawberry Fields Forever.
Not digital, it uses strips of magnetic recording tape.

membranophone Generic term for instruments that produce their sound from tightly stretched membranes. They are subdivided according to whether they are struck drums, plucked drums, friction drums or singing membranes (which are made to vibrate by speaking or singing into them). Membranophone form one of the four main classes of instruments. [Sadie] See: aerophone, chordophone, idiophone.

memristor (memory resistor) Electronic-circuit theory. The theoretical fourth two-port passive-component element, with the other three being resistors, capacitors and inductors. First postulated by Leon Chua, Professor at UC Berkeley, in his 1971 paper for IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory. The first practical example was demonstrated by R. Stanley Williams, a Hewlett-Packard senior fellow in 2008.

MEMS (microelectromechanical
systems) The acronym says it all. Check out this clearinghouse
website for the latest info.

MEMS microphone Pro audio theory and application for new microphones based on MEMS technology. First commercial products available from Akustica.

Mercer, Johnny(1909-1976) American songwriter
who wrote the lyrics to more than a thousand songs and received nineteen Academy Award nominations.

MerleFest MerleFest was founded in 1988 in Memory of Eddy Merle Watson as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College and to celebrate "traditional plus" music. Country and bluegrass festival held at the Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC.

mesh ground (a.k.a. common-bonded
network) "A system where every piece of structural and non-structural
metalwork in a building is bonded together. This includes concrete reinforcing
bars, girders, cable trays, ducts, deck-plates, gratings, frameworks, raised-floor
stringers, conduits, elevators, window and door frames, and the metal pipe-work
used for HVAC to make a highly interconnected system that is finally connected
to the lightning protection system." From A
Practical Interference Free Audio System by Tony Waldron, Technical
Manager, CADAC Electronics PLC.

METAlliance(Music Engineering & Technology Alliance) " ... collaborative community in which producers, engineers and audio technology manufacturers work together to ensure the highest standards of audio production and delivery through developing consumer formats." [From website.]

meter Abbr. m 1. The international
standard unit of length, approximately equivalent to 39.37 inches.
It was redefined in 1983 as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum
in 1/299,792,458 of a second. 2. Indicators. Any of various devices
designed to measure time, distance, speed, or intensity or indicate and
record or regulate the amount or volume, as of the flow of a gas or an
electric current. 3. Music. a. Division into measures or bars. b.
A specific rhythm determined by the number of beats and the time value
assigned to each note in a measure. [AHD]

meter ballistics Term describing
the response characteristics of a meter indicator. Applies to all meters
from original iron vane, taut-band or pivot & jewel mechanical analog
designs to LED, LCD or plasma ladder arrays. Two universal standards exist for audio use: the VU
meter and the PPM (peak program meter).
The indicator attack (or rise) times are specified as well as the decay
(or fall) rates along with the recommended detector method. Also see: peak hold.

metronome Music. A device used to mark time by means of
regularly recurring ticks or flashes at adjustable intervals. [AHD]
Originally mechanical devices that produced clicks over a range of 40-240
BPM (beats per minute), today most are electronic wonders.

MFCC (mel-filtered cepstral coefficients) An
important analysis parameter in CBID systems.
These coefficients describe the harmonic spectrum shape perceived by the
human auditory system, i.e., they characterize the shape of sound. For
details, see Audible
Magic, one of the leaders in CBID systems.

MI (musical instrument) A broad term
used to describe the musical instrument marketplace in general. Reference
is made to "the MI market," or to a specific "MI store." If a store sells
band instruments, it is an MI store.

MIAC (Music Industries Association of Canada) "A national not-for-profit trade association that represents Canadian manufacturers, distributors and retailers of musical instruments and accessories, keyboards, sound reinforcement products and published music."

mice music "Scientists have known for decades that female lab mice or their pheromones cause male lab mice to make ultrasonic vocalizations. But a new paper from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis establishes for the first time that the utterances of the male mice are songs." Hit the link for the whole story.

microbar A unit of pressure equal to one
millionth of a bar. [Not to be confused
with microbrew.]

microcontroller See: microprocessor.

microfarad Abbr. µF or uF A
unit of capacitance equal to one millionth
(10-6) of a farad.

microfiche One millionth of a fish.

micrometer Abbr. µm A
unit of length equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a millimeter
or one millionth (10-6)of a meter.

micron A deprecated unit of measure equal
to a micrometer, one-millionth of a meter. No
longer used.

microphoneAbbr.mic (never "mike"); however the abbreviation for the verb is miking (never "mic'ing") [One of the many inconsistencies of pro audio jargon.] An electroacoustic transducer used to convert the input acoustic energy into an electrical energy output.
Many methods exist; see, for example, electret
microphone, condenser microphone,
and dynamic microphone. The inventor
of the carbon microphone is Emil Berliner. The name "microphone" was coined by Narcissus Marsh: "In 1683 Marsh became one of the first members of the Dublin Philosophical Society. He contributed an early paper to that Society, called "An Introductory Essay on the Doctrine of Sounds, Containing some Proposals for the Improvement of Accousticks" in which he apparently was the first to use the word microphone." Also see: Spooky & the Metronome.

microphonicGeneral. Any noise cause by mechanical shock
or vibration of elements in a system (IEEE
Std 100). Audio. Electrical noise caused by mechanical or
audio induced vibration of the object. Common examples are vacuum tubes
where mechanical vibration of the tube causes modulation of the electrode
current, and capacitors that induce noise when tapped or vibrated in any
manner.

microprocessor An integrated circuit that performs a variety
of operations in accordance with a list of instructions. The core of a
microcomputer or personal computer, a one chip computer.

microsecond Abbr. µs One
millionth (10-6) of a second.

Microsoft®(microcomputer software) Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen
in 1975, whose relationship began with their first business venture named Traf-O-Data.

microstrip Electronics. A flat transmission line consisting of a conductive strip
and a ground plane separated by dielectric. Contrast with stripline.

mic splitter A phrase first coined by Franklin J. Miller, founder of Sescom, to describe a box fitted with female (inputs) and male (outputs) XLR mic connectors that allowed mic inputs to be routed to two, or more outputs. Usually passive, either hard-wired, or transformer connected. One common usage is for on-stage mic splitting, where one output goes to the monitor mixer and one to the FOH mixer.

middle C Music. The tone represented
by a note on the first ledger line below a treble clef or the first ledger
line above a bass clef. It is the first C below international pitch. [AHD]
The pitch equals 261.6 Hz and is the MIDI note number 60.

MIDEMAn exhibition for
music professionals held in Cannes, France each year at the Palais des Festivals.

MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) Industry
standard bus and protocol for interconnection and control of musical instruments.
First launched in 1983, now generalized and expanded to include signal
processing and lighting control. See MMA [Historical
Note: MIDI began with Dave Smith, President of Sequential Circuits, who
delivered an AES paper in the Fall of 1981 (The "USI," or Universal
Synthesizer Interface by Dave Smith and Chet Wood, 70th AES Convention,
1981, preprint
1845). He is credited with the original concept, but he admits that
the initial idea of needing some sort of standard interface originated
by both Oberheim and Roland. Sources: Polyphony, February
1983, pp. 36-40 and an official IMA (International MIDI Association) publication, Exploring
MIDI by David Droman in 1984.]

MIDI show control A term originally created by Charlie Richmond
(Richmond Sound Design) to describe a new form of MIDI control designed for live theater venues. His efforts resulted in the official MIDI
Show Control (MSC) specification. This document states: "The purpose
of MIDI Show Control is to allow MIDI systems to communicate with and to
control dedicated intelligent control equipment in theatrical, live performance,
multi-media, audio-visual and similar environments."

military music "Military justice is to justice what military
music is to music." — Groucho Marx [from Barber]

Miller
effect Electronics. The input impedance, and hence
frequency response, of an inverting voltage amplifier stage is strongly
affected by the feedback from the output to the input. This effect was
first described by John M. Miller in his paper, "Dependence of the input
impedance of a three-electrode vacuum tube upon the load in the plate circuit," Scientific
Papers of the Bureau of Standards Vol. 15, pp. 367-385, 1920. This
effect is used often in power amplifiers and op amps to set the frequency
response and guarantee stability by forcing a single-pole (6 dB/octave,
90 degree phase shift) roll-off. Analog power amplifiers in their simplest
form consist of an input differential
pair that produces a single-ended output to drive a class
A common-emitter amplifier voltage gain stage, followed by a push-pull
emitter follower current gain class AB output stage. If a single capacitor is connected between the base and collector
of the class A stage (called the "Miller capacitor") it will create a stable
dominate pole for the entire amplifier. In this circuit the effect described
by Miller acts as a capacitance multiplier, allowing a small capacitor
to set the overall response.

milli- Prefix for one thousandth (10-3), abbreviated m.

milliampere Abbr. mA A
unit of current equal to one thousandth
(10-3) of an ampere.

millihenry Abbr. mH A
unit of inductance equal to one thousandth
(10-3) of a henry.

millimeter Abbr. mm A
unit of length equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a meter.

millisecond Abbr. ms A unit of time equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a second.

millivolt Abbr. mV A
unit of voltage equal to one thousandth
(10-3) of a volt.

milonga Dance. A understated version of the tango. MusicA singing style that originated in the Río de la Plata area of Argentina and Uruguay.

MIM (Music Instrument Museum) "With musical instruments from every country in the world, MIM will pay homage to the history and diversity of instruments and introduce museum guests to their varied and unique sounds. MIM will be an engaging, entertaining, and informative experience, in which the uninitiated and the knowledgeable, the young and the old will feel welcome." [From the website.] Here is a preview video.

MIMO(pronounced "my-moh" or "me-moh") (multiple-input multiple-output) A broadcast technology utilizing
multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver for better communication.

Minifon An early portable dictating machine developed in the 1950s using wire recorder
technology. An example of "dead recording media."

minimum-phase filters Electrical circuits. From an electrical
engineering viewpoint, the precise definition of a minimum-phase function
is a detailed mathematical concept involving positive real transfer functions,
i.e., transfer functions with all zeros restricted to the left half s-plane (complex frequency plane using the Laplace transform operator s).
This guarantees unconditional stability in the circuit. For example, all
equalizer designs based on 2nd-order bandpass or band-reject networks have
minimum-phase characteristics. Acoustics A term used to mean a linear
phase (or phase linear, European term) system. See group
delay and the RaneNote Exposing Equalizer
Mythology.

mix-minus A specialized matrix-mixer where
there is one output associated with each input that includes all other
inputs except the one it is associated with. (The output is the
complete mix, minus the one input.) In this manner, the simplest
mix-minus designs have an equal number of inputs and outputs (a square matrix). For example, if there were 8-inputs, there would be 8-outputs.
Each output would consists of a mix of the seven other inputs, but not
its own. Therefore Output 1, for instance, would consist of a mix of Inputs
2-8, while Output 2 would consist of a mix of Inputs 1 & 3-7, Output
3 would consist of a mix of Inputs 1,2 & 4-7, and so on. Primary usage
is large conference rooms, where it is desirable to have the loudspeaker
closest to each microphone exclude that particular microphone, so
as to reduce the chance of feedback. See the RaneNote Introduction
to Speech Reinforcement with Conferencing.

mixer At its simplest level, an audio device
used to add (combine or sum) multiple inputs into one or two outputs, complete
with level controls on all inputs. From here signal processing is added
to each of the inputs and outputs until behemoth monsters with as many
as 64 inputs are created — at a cost of many kilobucks per input
for fully digitized and automated boards. At these price points a mixer
becomes a recording console.

mLAN (music local area network) A technology developed and licensed
by Yamaha based on the IEEE 1394 standard.
It is a high-level multichannel audio, video and MIDI networking and connection-management
protocol.

MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) A lossless audio coding scheme developed
by Meridian Audio Ltd. MLP has
been selected as the optional coding scheme for use on DVD-Audio, as well
as other transmission, storage and archiving applications. It is a true
lossless coding technology, in that the recovered audio is bit-for-bit
identical to the original. Unlike perceptual or lossy data reduction, MLP
does not alter the final decoded signal in any way, but merely "packs"
the audio data more efficiently into a smaller data rate for transmission
or storage. It is simple to decode and requires relatively low computational
power for playback.

MLS(maximum-length sequences) A time-domain-based
analyzer using a mathematically designed test signal optimized for sound
analysis. The test signal (a maximum-length sequence) is electronically
generated and characterized by having a flat energy-vs.-frequency curve
over a wide frequency range. Sounding similar to white noise, it is actually
periodic, with a long repetition rate. This test signal is most often tailored
to be pink noise, as the preferred response for fractional octave analysis.
Similar in principle to impulse response testing - think of the maximum-length
sequence test signal as a series of randomly distributed positive-
and negative-going impulses. See: MLSSA

MLSSA (pronounced
"Melissa") (maximum-length sequences system analyzer) Trademarked
name for the first MLS measurement instrument designed by DRA Laboratories
(Sarasota, FL). M.R. Schroeder used maximum-length-sequences methods for
room impulse response measurement in 1979 (based on work dating back to
the mid-60's); however, it was not until 1987 that the use of MLS became
commercially available. The first MLS instrument was developed and made
practical by Douglas Rife, who described the principles in his landmark
paper (co-authored by John Vanderkooy, University of Waterloo) "Transfer-Function
Measurement with Maximum-Length Sequences" (J. Audio Eng. Soc.,
vol. 37, no. 6, June 1989), and followed up with new applications described
in "Modulation Transfer Function Measurement with Maximum-Length Sequences"
(J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 40, no. 10, October 1992).

MMA (MIDI Manufacturers Association) The original source for information
on MIDI technology, where companies work together to
create the standards upon which MIDI compatibility is built.

Möbius (or Moebius) strip Mathematics. A topological oddity, it is a continuous closed surface
with no outside and no inside, i.e., it is a one-sided two-dimensional
surface. Cutting it lengthwise down the middle does not produce two pieces,
instead it produces a larger loop! See link for how to make a Möbius
strip. [After August Ferdinand Möbius.]

MOBO (Music of Black Origin) An organization that "identifies, showcases and celebrates music derived from black heritage." A U.K. award show called the MOBO Awards.

modalAcoustics. Of, relating to, or characteristic of
a room mode or modes. [AHD]

modulation 1. The act or process of modulating. 2. The state of being modulated. 3. Music
a. A passing or transition from one key or tonality to another. b. The result of such a transition. 4.
a. A change in stress, pitch, loudness, or tone of the voice; an inflection of the voice. b. An instance of such a change or an inflection. 5. The harmonious use of language, as in poetry or prose. 6. Electronics The variation of a property of an electromagnetic wave or signal, such as its amplitude, frequency, or phase. [AHD]

modulation noise Signal Processing. Any artifact that did not exist in the original signal and that varies with the signal strength. Common to analog tape recorders.

mojo 1. A charm or amulet thought to have magic powers. 2. Slang: power,
luck, etc., as of magical or supernatural origin. 3. Mojo Series Rane Corporation trademark for their discontinued series of economical products designed
for high quality performance and reliability aimed at the working musician.
4. Abbr. Mother Jones magazine, or reference to their Internet news
network: The Mojo Wire

MOL (maximum output level)Magnetic tape. The maximum
output level of a magnetic tape is defined as the magnetization level at
which a recorded 1 kHz sine wave reaches 3% third-harmonic distortion (note
that is 3% THIRD-harmonic distortion — not 3% TOTAL harmonic distortion).
Also referred to as 3% distortion of the musical
twelfth. See third-harmonic distortion.

MOMM (Museum of Making Music) "Founded in 1998 by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), the Museum of Making Music was developed to showcase and celebrate the music products industry." [From website.]

mondegreen The term for representing a series of words resulting from the mishearing
of a statement or song lyric. Variously attributed to Sylvia Wright, who
is credited with coining the word in a 1954 Harper's column, and also to
Jon Carroll by Pinker.

Monitor World Live sound. Area of the live sound stage
where the monitor engineer mixes his/her magic and attempts to decipher
cryptic hand signals from the performers. Not to be confused with "Guitar-Tech-Land",
where all the babes hang out.

monitor mixer A mixer used to create the proper signals to drive the individual musician stage
loudspeaker monitors. Also called foldback speakers. Compare with FOH.

mono Shorten form of monophonic, or monaural, relating to a system of transmitting, recording, or reproducing sound in
which one or more sources are connected to a single channel; monaural.
[AHD] Compare to stereo.

monoed One of many pro audio inspired jargon terms it is the verb form for mono. Usually meaning the result of mixing left and right channels. [Yes, it is a word; yes, it is correct.]

monopole woofer system Loudspeakers. Literally
"one pole," the most common form of woofer system that acts like an omnidirectional
sound source, thus exciting room modes more than the alternative dipole
woofer systems.

monotonicMathematics. Designating
sequences, the successive members of which either consistently increase
or decrease but do not oscillate in relative value. Each member of a monotone
increasing sequence is greater than or equal to the preceding member; each
member of a monotone decreasing sequence is less than or equal to the preceding
member. [AHD]

Monte Carlo method Of or relating to a problem-solving technique that uses random samples and other statistical methods for finding solutions to mathematical or physical problems. [AHD]

month One of the words in the English language without a rhyme
— some others are "orange," "purple" and "silver."

Moogfest"Moogfest is the annual event that honors the remarkable vision of Robert Moog and his amazing musical inventions that changed the course of music. Moogfest is a 3-day, multi-venue event originally held in Asheville, NC—the place Bob Moog called home for the last 30 years of his life—now held in Durham, NC. [From website.]

Moog
synthesizer The first electronic keyboard invented by US engineer Robert A. Moog in collaboration with composer Herbert A. Deutsch. Introduced in 1964, but not made popular until Wendy Carlos released the megahit album Switched-On
Bach in 1968. For the complete history see Electronic and Experimental Music by Thom Holmes. Moog was granted U.S. Patent 4,050,343
Electronic music synthesizer, in 1977.

Moonrise Festival Popular music festival held yearly in Baltimore, MD, featuring international, regional and local EDM talent and live acts..

Moore's Law 1. Named by the physicist Carver Mead, after Gordon
E. Moore, a cofounder of Intel, who wrote in an Electronics magazine article in 1965, that computer chip complexity would double every
twelve months for the next ten years. Ten years later his forecast proved
to be correct. At that time, he then predicted that the doubling would
happen every two years for the next ten years. Ten years
later, he was, once again, proved correct. By combining the two predictions, Moore's
Law is often stated as a doubling every 18 months. 2. The dictum that
requires you to buy a new computer every two years. [Thanks DC.]

Mosquito™ Teenage Deterrent A security device used in the U.K. that emits a high-pitched scream at a frequency audible only to young people (roughly below the age of 20). With an effective range of about 20 meters, its aim is to break up loitering youths by annoyance and is, needless to say, a very controversial device. Also see: MEDUSA.

moving coil Abbr. MC Transducers. A type
of electromagnetic transducer that operates by having a mechanical device
move a coil of wire in a magnetic filed to convert the mechanical movement
into an electrical current. Invented and patented by General Electric researchers Chester Rice and Edward Kellogg in 1924. The first stereo moving coil cartridges are credited to Joseph Grado and Grado Labs. Contrast with moving
magnet.

moving magnet Abbr. MM Transducers. A
type of electromagnetic transducer that operates by having a mechanical
device move a magnet in a coil of wire to convert the mechanical movement
into an electrical current. Invented in 1957 by ELAC. Contrast with moving
coil.

Mozart was approached by a young man, little older than
a boy, who sought his advice on composing a symphony. Mozart pointed out
that he was still very young and it might be better if he began by composing
ballads. "But you wrote symphonies when you were only ten years old," objected
the lad. "But I didn't have to ask how," Mozart retorted. [Bartlett's
Book of Anecdotes]

MP3 (MPEG-1, Layer 3) A type of digital audio compression popularized
for transmitting songs over the Internet. MP3 allows real-time audio streaming
for Internet encoding and downloading. MP3 files are identified by the
suffix ".MP3" Typically MP3 compresses CD-quality audio down to about one
minute per 1MB file size.

MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) A working group within SMPTE who set, among other things, specifications for compression schemes for
audio and video transmission. A term commonly used to make reference to
their image-compression scheme (MPEG-2) for full motion video.

MPEG-4
Structured Audio This specifies a set of tools that allow powerful
and flexible description of sound in a variety of ways, all based on what
has become known as "structured audio," meaning transmitting sound by describing it rather than compressing it. Also see: SLS

MPGA (Music Producers Guild of the Americas) The original professional guild for music producers and audio recording
engineers, however in 2000, the Recording
Academy absorbed it and established the Producers & Engineers Wing.

M/S or M-S (mid-side or mono-stereo) microphone
technique. Invented by Alan Blumlein and awarded US Patent 429,054, "Improvements in and relating to Sound-Transmission, Sound-Recording and Sound Reproducing Systems, filed in February 1934. It was first commercialized in the mid '50s by the Danish radio engineer
Holger Lauridsen (H. Lauridsen & F. Schlegel, "Stereophonie und richtungsdiffuse
Klangwiedergabe," Gravesaner Blätter, 1956, Nr. V, August, S.28-50). It is a method for capturing stereophonic sound using two microphones. One
microphone with a cardioid response (although
any polar pattern will work) is aimed straight ahead toward the sound source
(this is the mid or monoM part), and a second
microphone with a figure-8 (or bipolar) response is placed so that
the two lobes are directed toward the sides (this is the side or stereoS part). The two signals are then combined using an M-S matrix circuit
that yields two signals: M+S and M-S. See Streicher
& Everest for complete details.

MSM (mid-side-mid, also called Double
MS) An extension of the M-S microphone technique using two coincident M-S pairs sharing the same side-facing figure-of-eight
microphone, one pairing for the Front L and R and the other pairing for
the surrounds Ls and Rs (from Mike Skeet's article "MSM Mic Surround Technique," Audio
Media, May 2003, pp. 58-59.

MSO (Music Store Owners) Originally called iSMO (Independent Music Store Owners) this organization
exists to serve as a link between dealers, manufacturers and the public.

MSPS (million samples per second or megasamples
per second) A measurement of data converter speed.

MTBF (mean time between failure) Reliability Analysis. A
measure based on statistical experience of how reliable a hardware product
or component is, expressing in thousands or tens of thousands of hours
as the predicted average time between failures.

MTTR (mean time to repair or mean time to recovery) Reliability
Analysis. A measure of the maintainability of a piece of equipment.
It is the average time required to fix any removable item in a product
or system. Helpful in analyzing how long repairs and maintenance tasks
will take in the event of a system failure.

mult Recording. Slang shortened form
for "multiplex" or "multiple." Refers to routing or splitting signals to
multiple destinations. Found on patchbays where several "mult" jacks make
a signal available to many devices.

multicore Microprocessors. Two or more processors in a single package, which allows simultaneous processing of multiple instructions, thus greatly increasing processing speed.

multi-denomial transpedance informer Term coined by Jensen Transformers for their mythical product, the JE-EP-ERs,
first introduced in 1987, which almost changed the whole audio transformer
industry. The Jensen JE-EP-ERs pioneered the use of triple electonomic
shielding and intrinsic eddy-breeding, until outlawed by Congress in 1988.
Voluntarily discontinued when their stock of zeta-metal ran out, preventing
any further use of interstage transpedance informance. Considered by many
to be the only necessary accessory when coupling a Rane PI 14 Pseudoacoustic
Infector to a Crown Belchfire® BF-6000SUX amplifier for playback using an Electro-Voice Rearaxial
Softspeaker.

multimedia Generally refers to personal computers capable of
multiple forms of communication methods. These constitute a minimum combination
of stereo audio, video, text, and graphics, plus the more complex system
includes fax and telephony provisions.

multipath Broadcast. Short for
"multipath interference" or "multipath distortion." Interference due to
multiple arrivals of the same broadcast signal due to reflections off buildings
(usually). The difference in path lengths creates different arrival times
thus causing signal cancellation and degradation. Most commonly occurs
in FM and TV broadcast signals. The experience in car audio FM systems
is static and signal weakening heard while slowing down and stopping; the
signal comes and goes, weakens and distorts then clears, creating a phenomena
called "picket fencing." Since AM broadcast frequencies are lower
in frequency the wavelengths are longer and multipath does not occur. See diversity
antenna.

multiplex To interleave two or more signals into a single output;
a process of selecting one of a number of inputs and switching its information
to the output.

multipoint conference Telecommunication term referring to conferencing
between three or more sites.

multitrackRecording. The most popular method of music recording where each instrument, or group of instruments, is recorded on separate tracks (called stems) and then mixed down to a final version.

mu-metalMetallurgy. A nickel-iron alloy used primarily for magnetic shielding. Not to be confused with nu metal.

Mummers ParadeMusic Festival. Said to be the oldest continuous folk festival in the U.S., held annually in Philadelphia on New Year's Day.

Museum of MathematicsTheir Mission Statement: "
Mathematics illuminates the patterns that abound in our world. The Museum of Mathematics strives to enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics. Its dynamic exhibits and programs will stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of mathematics. The museum’s activities will lead a broad and diverse audience to understand the evolving, creative, human, and aesthetic nature of mathematics."

music 1. The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. [AHD]
2. The art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds with a view to beauty or coherence of form and expression of emotion. [OED] 3. The science of harmonical sounds. [Samuel Johnson's definition of músick.]

" ... what is music but a little wrinkling of the air?" from Gwilan's Harp by Ursula K. Le Guin

" ... of all the noises I think music is the least disagreeable." Samuel Johnson

"Don't bother looking at the view," he once told a visitor to his country house. "I have already composed it." Gustav Mahler

"Music is not sound. Music is using sound to organize emotions in time." Krystian Zimerman

Music RisingA charity created in 2005 by U2's lead guitarist, the Edge, music producer Bob Ezrin and
Henry Juszkiewicz,
Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., along
with musical partner Guitar Center.

music vs. noise 1. "The sensation of a musical tone is due to
a rapid periodic motion of the sonorous body; the sensation of a noise to non-periodic motion." from On
the Sensation of Tone(1862) Hermann
Helmholtz. 2. "Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable."
— Samuel Johnson [from Barber]

MusikmesseThe world's largest music trade show held annually in Frankfurt, Germany.

musique abstraite Music. Music
written for later playing; normal music as opposed to musique
concrète.

Mutek A
Montreal
music festival. "A not-for-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art." [from website]

mutual capacitanceElectronics. The capacitance between two conductors in a pair when the rate of change of the charges on the two are equal in magnitude but opposite in sign, and the potentials of the remaining conductors in the cable are held constant. [IEEE]

mute A control found on recording consoles,
some mixers, and certain signal processing units that
silences (mutes) a signal path, or output. Various uses.

Muzak (music + Kodak) 1. Trademark of the business music company founded
in 1928 by General George Owen Squier who patented the transmission of
background music (phonograph records played through the telephone system).
He created the name by merging the word "music" with that of his favorite
high-tech venture, the Eastman Kodak
Company. The word "Kodak" was coined by Eastman himself, and in
1888 he first registered it as a trademark. According to Eastman, he invented
it out of thin air. He explained: "I devised the name myself. The letter
"K" had been a favorite with me - it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter.
It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters
that made words starting and ending with 'K.' The word 'Kodak' is the result."
2. "I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something
else." — Lily Tomlin [from Barber]